Analysis of acetone-hexane artifacts produced in the Soxhlet extraction of solid environmental samples

A study was performed to examine the artifact formation during the acetone-hexane Soxhlet extraction of suspended materials collected on glass fiber filters. Capillary gas chromatographic analysis showed a great number of artifacts of significant concentration in the Soxhlet extractions of the filters after cleaning, the acetone solvent blank and the acetone-hexane Soxhlet blank. Gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric analysis indicated that the compounds are primarily condensation products of acetone produced during the Soxhlet extraction process and solvent impurities. Acetone and hexane washes of the glass fiber filters showed a large variety of compounds to be present on the filters as received from the manufacturer. A reaction scheme is proposed to explain the formation of some of the acetone condensation products identified in this study. A comparison study using methylene chloride to clean and extract the filters showed considerably less artifact formation and solvent impurities. The development of an appropriate quality assured extraction method, which minimizes artifact formation, is needed for the broad spectrum analysis of non-polar trace organics associated with suspended materials in aquatic samples.